Published: March 12, 2008 02:36 pm            

Tackett coaches Rowan to girls' championship

Former West assistant wins 16th region title in first year in job

MOREHEAD - Rowan County rallied from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to capture its second 16th Region girls' basketball tournament title in the past four seasons with a 54-52 victory over Ashland Paul Blazer on Monday night at Morehead State University's Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

The Lady Vikings trailed nearly the entire night, before taking its first lead on a pair of Natasha Kissinger free throws with 4:53 left in the game. Rowan County (27-5) held onto the advantage the rest of the contest. Prior to the fourth period, the closest the Green and White came to holding a lead was as 3-3 tie just over two minutes into the game. Ashland Paul Blazer (24-5), which lost for just the second time since the beginning of February, led by as many as nine points.

Behind outstanding shooting, the Kittens held a 14-10 advantage at the end of the first quarter and a 25-21 edge at halftime. Ashland made 57.1 percent of its shots in the first half, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.

The margin remained at four points (34-30) entering the final period. Kim Strait extended the Kittens' advantage to seven points after opening the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer.

However, Rowan County scored 10 of the next 12 points to take the lead. The Lady Vikings used a combination of strong shooting (hitting 4-of-4 from the both floor and at the free-throw line) and tenacious defense (forcing three turnovers) in a stretch of two minutes and 45 seconds to take over the lead. Rowan County added another basket 18 seconds later to extend their advantage to three points.

Ashland trimmed the margin to one after a pair of Laisha Ward foul shots with 4:17 to play, but the Lady Vikings scored the next four points and the Kittens never came closer than within three the rest of the way until Chelsea Dietrich hit a 3-pointer with just three seconds left on the clock.

Jennifer Brockman scored 15 points and added four assists and four steals for Rowan County. Cassidi Spurlock, who was named the tournament's Best Defensive Player, chipped in nine points. Natasha Kissinger scored four points and collected two steals. All four were named to the all-tournament team.

Ali Wilcox and Strait each scored 14 points to lead the Kittens. Ward finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds in her final game. All three were named to the all-tournament team.

Raceland's Brooke Keeton, West Carter's Monica Stevens, Russell's Samantha Sparks, and Morgan County's Leslie Eagle and Alyssa Dulen, were also chosen to the all-tournament team. Bath County earned the Team Sportsmanship Award.

Ashland both out-shot Rowan County from the field (48.4 percent to 38.2 percent), 3-point range (60.0 percent to 14.3 percent) and the free-throw line (76.5 percent to 50.0 percent) and also out-rebounded the Lady Vikings, 36 to 24. But Ashland committed 31 turnovers, including 16 in the second half, to Rowan County's 11.

Rowan County now advances to the state tournament, where it will meet the 14th Region champion, Breathitt County (26-4), on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET at Western Kentucky University's E.A. Diddle Arena.

        

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